The outgoing mayor of Paris announced Tuesday that she will not seek a third term in 2026. To take over, she has chosen a little-known candidate but very familiar with Parisian affairs.
After leaks in the press and rumors in the corridors, finally the dubbing in due form. The mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, who announced Tuesday morning in an interview with Monde that she will not run for a third term, has designated the one she intends to see succeed her at City Hall: Rémi Féraud. Four syllables that probably mean nothing to you. However, the senator from Paris, who has led the municipal majority for a decade, is a faithful among the faithful, a historic member of the inner circle.
“I know him well, I have appreciated him for a very long time; he is the one who will be able to carry our history and reinvent a future for Paris”said the outgoing mayor of him. The person concerned very recently confided to Figaro his desire to“write a new chapter of the same book”a way of directing his candidacy in line with the policy pursued by the socialists since 2001.
He believes that this positioning constitutes the right strategy to win the consent of Parisian voters during the 2026 election, the Olympic Games having in his eyes crowned the success of Anne Hidalgo's record. “I will not let go of the prey for the shadow”he philosophizes, happy to be able to rely on a quarter of a century of socialist governance. It must be said that he was a key player in the Bertrand Delanoë era (2001-2014), from whom he learned a lot, then, even more so, from the double mandate of Anne Hidalgo (2014-2026).
Indelible stigma
Elected municipal councilor in 2001, he became mayor of the 10th arrondissement during the following municipal elections, in 2008. The same year, Rémi Féraud was propelled to the head of the Parisian federation of the Socialist Party (PS), an eminently strategic position that he occupied until 2015. This led to him co-directing Anne Hidalgo's first municipal campaign in 2014. The Parisian socialist framework will subsequently be named head of the list for the 2017 senatorial elections. Elected to the upper house, he leaves the reins of district town hall to Alexandra Cordebard.
His nine-year mandate at the head of the 10th arrondissement was marked by the attacks of November 13, 2015. Jihadist barbarism strikes in the streets, killing his constituents at point blank range, in an outpouring of blood and tears. An indelible stigma. Rémi Féraud also mentions a political fight which demonstrates, according to him, a form of courage. He is the first to have experimented with the installation of shooting rooms desired by the socialist government of Jean-Marc Ayrault in 2013. “I held on despite fierce opposition”he testifies today.
Notoriety deficit
This journey marked by an attachment to local life, in addition to unfailing loyalty to the mayor of Paris since the beginning of the 2000s, convinced Anne Hidalgo to choose this almost unknown person to try, with her support, to take its sequel. “He has the necessary solidity, seriousness and ability to come together, she believes in her interview with Le Monde. Rémi has always been able to maintain a respectful but firm relationship with the partners of the left who are part of our team and, as a senator since 2017, he also has a national dimension.
The fact remains that the road ahead to the office of mayor of Paris, reputed to be the most beautiful in the Republic, is still long and will undoubtedly be strewn with pitfalls. In addition to a municipal opposition at loggerheads, Rémi Féraud will have to cross swords with his former friend Emmanuel Grégoire, who declared himself a dissident candidate. He will also have to bring together the Parisian left as widely as possible, with the exception, he warns, of La France insoumise, which he loathes by «principe moral». But Rémi Féraud says he is certain that his in-depth work for Paris for more than twenty years will pay off, despite his lack of notoriety.
